Recreational Cyclocross and GravelbikingThis has to be the most physically intense sport ever invented. It's high speed bicycle racing on a short off road course or riding the off pavement rides on gravel like :The Dirty Kanza". We also have a dedicated Racing forum for the Cyclocross Hard Core Racers.

I have the same crank on my Specialized CX and like it a lot--very stiff and seem to have narrower Q factor than other cranks I've tried.

A couple words of warning: these were recalled due to fracturing on the non-drive side. The machining seems to have weakened them in the mid-section of the NDS arm. See details here: http://www.ritcheylogic.com/news_article.php?id=495 . But they did fix the problem by beefing up this part of the crank and reissuing--just make sure whatever cranks you're looking at have the date code after the problem became known.

Also, these take a Shimano Octalink BB, which for a while were becoming hard to find--I think they've since started offering more options for replacement in their 105 line (phasing out Ultegra and Dura Ace). All the same, a cheap crank will still require some more investment in an outmoded (but still perfectly fine) BB.

I have the same crank on my Specialized CX and like it a lot--very stiff and seem to have narrower Q factor than other cranks I've tried.

A couple words of warning: these were recalled due to fracturing on the non-drive side. The machining seems to have weakened them in the mid-section of the NDS arm. See details here: http://www.ritcheylogic.com/news_article.php?id=495 . But they did fix the problem by beefing up this part of the crank and reissuing--just make sure whatever cranks you're looking at have the date code after the problem became known.

Also, these take a Shimano Octalink BB, which for a while were becoming hard to find--I think they've since started offering more options for replacement in their 105 line (phasing out Ultegra and Dura Ace). All the same, a cheap crank will still require some more investment in an outmoded (but still perfectly fine) BB.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. The ones I was looking at are ISIS.

TBH I probably would run them on my SS road bike rather than my cross bike, as I'm pretty happy with my new Race Face cadence cranks (stiff!).

It's going to be 2x9: A mishmash of DA/Ultegra/105 nine-speed. The crankset I have is a standard 53/39 but I think if I replace the 53 with a 48 (just ordered one from Ben's Cycles), that should be okay with 12-27 in the back. The wheels are Ultegra/Open Pros, Tektro CR 720 cantilevers.

The question will be tires. I have some Kenda Kwicks from when I tried to jury rig my Trek SS, but I wasn't crazy about them. Any recommendations for the local courses?

I'm sure you can get away with the semi slick for the early season. I have some speedmax's that worked well at discovery and Folsom last year. This year I went with tubs so I don't have as many options.

I'm also running 9 speed on my race bike.. Depending on what time the classes fall out I may do the single speed race too. What class are you in this year? I'm probably doing B master 35 with the a bunch of my BEER teammates.